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rudder trim?

db8

Well Known Member
Am building a RV-8 empennage kit and have several friends who recommend installing rudder trim. I have also had several say not to do it because it's not necessary. Any thoughts (pros and cons)? Thanks a bunch. Dave
 
Rudder trim

Are your friends flying RV8s? I've never seen an RV with rudder trim, but I'm sure someone has it. My plan is to use the pedals to keep the rudder in the right position during climb and decent, and trim using a little tab and trial and error, if needed, for cruise.
 
Rudder Trim

I have a friend who installed a trim tab on his RV-6 rudder bottom about 3 years back. He added it to his already flying airplane as a way of killing two birds with one stone. During an annual condition inpection he found a crack on the thin skinned rudder trailing edge and assumed it to be from prop pulses from his 0-360/Hartzell. He cut out the section with the crack and built a trim tab in its place. The repair/modification is a real beautiful piece of work that is functional as well.

On my 9A I made a small fixed trim tab using balsa model airplane trailing edge stock that you can buy from any hobby shop. It is wedge shaped and comes in various sizes and weighs nothing. After experimenting with several different lengths to see what worked best the tab was painted at the time of the airplane and installed with epoxy. With the gear leg fairings off and wheel pants off there is no need for the trim tab, but apparently they were not installed perfectly straight and induce mild yaw.


Blue Skies,
Bryan 9A "Flyin The Flag"
 
I've seen two other rudder trim tab methods. One was a section of piano hinge rivited two the trailing edge of the rudder and moved with a servo just like the elevator trim. The other was a spring set up with a control knob that applied pressure to one off the rudder cables.

:)
 
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